It was finally here

Planning an outdoor wedding is not without a little stress because one never knows what the weather will do. I did think about this but ultimately decided it didn’t matter. We had acknowledged our love for each other in the middle of a hurricane and spent the first anniversary of that day celebrating by running through New Orleans in the midst of the pouring rain so I had to think that even if some rare perfect New England storm blew in it would all work out.
On the day of our wedding, we awoke to a gorgeous day with perfect sunshine and temperatures in the 70’s. We had decided we were too old and rational to follow all of those silly traditions and not see each other – and we just had too many last minute things to take care of to mess with all that. We had taken our clothes to the cleaners on Friday so they could be freshened after the ride in the suitcases so that was our first stop of the day. We had gotten manicures before leaving Houston but still my nails were a mess so next stop was a nail salon. The family was spending the day at Winter Island so we went by there for a short visit. They were there at my request because I knew the boys would want to explore and insisted they get it out of there system before the wedding. Our time with them was so limited and I felt a little bad for not staying longer but they all understood we had things to do. We still had a few hours but we had to pick up the cake and get ourselves ready for the ceremony.
A couple of people asked me if I was nervous. I admitted I was a little about the silly things like the weather or that I would fall down the path and end up with my white outfit covered in dirt but I was not one bit nervous about the ceremony itself. I knew this was the most important thing I would ever do in my life and I didn’t experience one second of doubt. 

We had planned to meet my family and the J.P. at the park and it was finally time to head out. We took a couple of bottles of wine and some classy plastic champagne glasses and were on our way.  

 

Priscilla hadn’t seen where we wanted the ceremony and we had called and left her a message to wear sensible shoes but until she arrived, we weren’t even sure everything was going to work. Fortunately, she was a good sport and proceeded down the “billy-goat” trail with the rest of us.

We chose not to make an entrance but rather to just gather together with the lighthouse behind us and our family forming a circle on the other side. We had designed our own ceremony so to some degree we knew what to expect but Priscilla had also added touches that made it much more personal. We had asked the boys to read from Kahlil Gibran.

I never doubted they could read well enough for this because they are both very smart boys. I knew Seamus could handle the spotlight because his personality is often compared to mine (I am not saying that is a good thing : ) Finn is a little quieter and I hoped it would not make him uncomfortable. I really shouldn’t have worried – When Finn began to read it was perfect and his sweet young voice made Gibran’s words even more beautiful. That is when the tears started flowing and by the time Mom, Matt and Lisa had read the final verse we had to get out our Kleenex.  

When it came time to exchange our rings Priscilla asked the family to each say something to us. This was something she had told us she would do and we chose not to tell them this in advance. This was a wonderful addition to our plan and when my brother finished I was in tears again. Seamus added his own love and support and Finn expressed my feeling exactly when he said “ Yay”.

If you read the BLOG on the rings, you already know we were now exchanging much more than pieces of metal and we had written our own vows for this. 

Priscilla then wrapped it up and finished by pronouncing us legally married.  We were actually married! What a wonderful feeling – Married - Honestly Legally Married to the woman of my dreams. I can’t even find words to describe the happiness I felt but looking back on the photos I think it is written all over my face. 

 

Karen is the most beautiful, incredible woman I have ever known and she was now my wife. At this point, I pinched myself two or three times to make sure it was all real and we popped open the champagne and toasted on the beach.

 Having my family there with us made it even more wonderful and I don’t think I’ll ever find the words to tell them how important that had been for me.

There is more to come but for now if you want to see more pictures go to Picture Trail.